Tree Configuration Thermosyphon Study - LEPTEN

vapor equally among all the four condensers, especially when the external heat transfer coefficient is small (natural
convection). This result is especially interesting when considering the fact that in the primary application of the tree
configuration thermosyphon, i. e., bakery ovens, the condenser is subjected to small heat transfer coefficients
(natural convection).
Rc [°C/W]
1
0,1
0,01
theory
data (test C)
data (test D)
data (test E)
0,001
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Power input [W]
Figure 10. Theoretical and experimental values of condenser resistance
for the natural convection tests
V. Summary and Conclusions
This work presents a study on the tree configuration thermosyphon, which is composed by four parallel
condensers and a single evaporator. The objective of the work is to analyze the applicability of the thermosyphon of
to systems where one is interested in homogenizing the temperature inside enclosures. One particular application of
interest is domestic and industrial ovens. A prototype of the tree configuration thermosyphon was built and tested
under both natural and forced convection cooling over the condenser. The results show that for the natural
convection tests, the evaporator can easily spread the vapor evenly through all the condensers, homogenizing the
condensers temperatures. This homogenization is not expected with several conventional thermosyphons in parallel.
The same was not observed for the forced convection tests, where due to the high heat transfer coefficient, not the
entire condenser is necessary to dissipate the power input. As a consequence the vapor tends to concentrate in a
small portion of the condenser. The external conditions are important for the evaluation of the heat transfer
characteristics of the thermosyphon. This means that it is impossible to obtain a thermosyphon thermal resistance,
only related to the heat transfer phenomenon that happens inside the thermosyphon. Actually, the models should
include the external heat transfer conditions.
The measured condenser resistance was compared with models and correlations available in the literature. The
results show that the overall thermal resistance of the condensers is larger than predicted by the modeling employed.
However, the larger the power input, the smaller the differences between the model and experiments. The results
suggest that the thermosyphon is over-dimensioned for the heat transfer levels encountered in domestic ovens,
primary objective for the development of the tree configuration thermosyphon. Despite the differences, the absolute
value of the thermosyphon overall thermal resistance is actually very low, which demonstrates the device can be
applied to isothermalize ovens and furnaces where natural convection of air is responsible for removing the heat
being transferred by the thermosyphon.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of CENPES-PETROBRÁS during this project.
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics